


In the Dark

by LovelyJehan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Deaf Clint Barton, Kind of AU, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Pre-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 02:51:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18651403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyJehan/pseuds/LovelyJehan
Summary: Bucky wakes up gasping. It takes him a moment to remember that he’s in bed, Steve next to him.Or, the one in which I cried during endgame and wrote something to comfort myself with.





	In the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> This was a speed write, errors are a high possibility.

Bucky wakes up gasping. It takes him a moment to remember that he’s in bed, Steve next to him. He’s not under Hydra’s control anymore. It doesn’t feel like it. Not when all he can think about was what he did as The Winter Soldier. Steve is still asleep, resting peacefully. Bucky doesn’t have the heart to wake him. He’ll let Steve berate him about it in the morning, if he finds out. 

 

The room is pitch black, but Bucky has studied it often enough in the dark to navigate his way around it. He pushes the covers off himself and tucks Steve back in as he leaves the warmth of the bed. It wasn’t something he was completely used to feeling, not when he was left shirtless and frozen in Hydra labs in Russia. He leaves the safety of Steve’s room and pads out into the hallway. 

 

The advantage, deepening on how one looks at it, to living with a whole team of superheroes is that someone is always awake. It’s usually Tony, working late in his lab, but Bucky doesn't like to be alone in the same room with him, if he can help it. He can’t hold Tony’s gaze, not after what he did to his parents. He never notices Tony’s pitying gaze. 

 

Bucky walks towards the big living area on his and Steve’s floor, it’s the one most commonly used to chill out. Natalia, no, he thinks, it’s Natasha now, and Clint are awake, signing at each other rapidly. They are struggling not to laugh. He’s about to turn and go back, when she says ‘stay’. He finds it difficult to look her in the eye too. Clint signs something at her. 

 

“He doesn’t have his hearing aids in.” She explains. “He wants to know if you’re alright.” 

 

Bucky’s instinct is to say he’s fine, but Natasha gives him a look. He sits down next to her. 

 

Clint signs something again. 

 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Natasha translates. Bucky shakes his head. 

 

“You’re not him anymore.” She says softly. “They can't control you now.” 

 

He knows she’s speaking from experience. He looks down at his hands. One flesh, the other metal. He hates the constant reminder of what they did to him. 

 

“That’s a good idea.” Natasha murmurs. Bucky looks up. She and Clint are signing again.

 

He sits there with them for a while. He’s unsure for how long. Natasha speaks to him occasionally, but mostly she just signs to Clint, continuing whatever conversation they were having when he interrupted. He likes that, though, that they don’t pity him as much as everyone else. At least, not outwardly. They include him in conversation, but they are capable of retiring to their own. Not like Steve, who forces him in to any conversation when he enters a room. He knows that Steve is trying. Poor kid, never had to look after Bucky before. It was always the other way around. Bucky hates himself for missing it. Steve is stronger that he’s ever been. 

 

Natasha and Clint leave him to go to their beds. She asks him if he wants to go back to his own. He stays on the couch and watches the sun rise. He falls asleep not longer after. 

 

Steve finds him and hour or so later. Bucky is still asleep, curled in on himself. Steve scoops him up and carries him back to bed. It was something he never used to be able to do. Bucky used to pick Steve up all the time when they were kids. Now, Steve can lift him with ease. 

 

He sets Bucky down on the bed gently. He throws the covers over him, before crawling back into bed as well. He drapes his arm over Bucky’s torso and closes his eyes, hoping that they’ll wake together in another few hours.


End file.
